ITC Rules Against Apple, Microsoft in Separate Patent Cases

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) issued rulings this week in separate patent-infringement cases against Apple and Microsoft and found that both companies have violated Motorola Mobility patents in some way. However, a US district court judge previously ruled that Motorola wouldn't be able to halt the sale of Microsoft’s infringing products, regardless of the outcome.

The ITC found that Microsoft infringed against four of the five patents that Motorola Mobility claimed were in violation. That’s not particularly surprising, however, since the patents in question involve industry standards for commonly used technologies such as Wi-Fi and video playback. Motorola had previously requested an injunction against Microsoft, which could have halted the sales of Windows and Xbox, two of the software giant’s core products.

Motorola, of course, was pleased with the ITC ruling, although the ruling won’t be certified until a six-member ITC commission reviews it in August.

“Microsoft continues to infringe Motorola Mobility’s patent portfolio, and we remain confident in our position,” Motorola spokesperson Becki Leonard said. “This case was filed in response to Microsoft’s litigate-first patent attack strategy, and we look forward to the full commission’s ruling in August.”

Meanwhile, in a similar case against Apple, the consumer electronics giant was found to have infringed on two of six patents that Motorola Mobility claimed were in violation. In that case, Motorola is likewise seeking an injunction that would halt the sale of Apple’s iPhone and iPad products. And as with the Microsoft case, it too revolves around FRAND licensing—in this case, for 3G wireless technologies.

As in the Microsoft case, Motorola must await an August commission review before a possible injunction will occur. Apple had separately fought to block the sale of Motorola Mobility products in October 2010 but lost that case. It is currently in appeal, and Motorola’s current case against Apple dates back to that time.

Not coincidentally, the European Union (EU) is separately investigating complaints by both Apple and Microsoft that Motorola Mobility is illegally wielding its standard essential patents to harm competition.

Motorola Mobility is still waiting on Google to complete its $12.5 billion acquisition of the company. But these court actions in the United States and Europe could cause problems for the antitrust regulators that previously approved the sale. When the EU approved the Google purchase of Motorola in February, for example, it specifically called out its “worry” that Google would “abuse” the many patents it would acquire as part of the Motorola Mobility purchase. If Apple and Microsoft are to be believed, that abuse is already happening.

Discuss this Article 5

The key here is that the Motorola patents are essential to modern devices and should be licensable on FRAND terms.
What is disgusting is that Motorola is using its supposedly FRAND honouring patents to bully Apple and Microsoft.
As Paul says, the EU is investigating whether Motorola are inappropriately using their patents to stifle competition.
In other words, Motorola and by extension Google, are unfairly fighting their Patent infringements, where they copied from Apple and Microsoft, with patents already agreed to be licensable under FRAND agreements, since they are essential.
I trust the EU steps in and puts a stop to this.

The whole patent process needs to be overhauled. The vagueness of most patents issued in the past 20 years has led to these trolling lawsuits which only serve to enrich lawyers and stifle innovation. If a patent doesnt include a specific implementation and details that make it unique then it should not be issued. If it has already been issued then it should be invalidated. In addition the companies bring these lawsuits and loose should have to pay 100% of the court costs for the suite and return any royalties that have collected. Patents that start out with a method to display data on a screen or a method to transmit data should not ever be issued.

This whole IP patent thing is just disgusting and it needs to fixed soon and not tied up in courts. The thing is, as long as lawyers are raking in the dough there is no incentive to fix it since the only ones that CAN fix it are those very same lawyers. Judges and many politicians are or were lawyers, too. It will only get worse and it's disgusting. We should just call ourselves the United States of Attorneys.

In my opinion hopefully we can get a wakeup call to Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Oracle (maybe others) on the issue of patents and litigation. If they all realize there is a significant waste of time, money, and resources (often to the detriment of the customers) involved in frivolous litigation, then maybe they will all cease and desist unless it is the most urgent and necessary of reasons. That way they can get back to making better products for their customers.